miles higher than the junction of the Castlereagh.]

An instance occurred here of the uselessness of new names, and the
necessity for preserving the native names of Rivers. I could refer, in
communicating with our guide, to the Nammoy only, and to the hills which
partly supplied the Castlereagh, whereof the native name was
Wallambangle. I wanted to make them understand the probability that some
flood had come down the channel of the Castlereagh, and that we might
therefore hope to find water below its junction with the Macquarie. This,
with the aid of Yuranigh, our own native, was at length made intelligible
to our Bàrwan guide, and he shaped his course accordingly. He took us
through scrubs, having in the centre those holes where water usually
lodges for some time after rain, where some substratum of clay happens to
be retentive enough to impede the common absorption. But the water in
these holes had been recently drunk, and the mud trampled into hard clay
by the hoofs of cattle. Thus it is, that the aborigines first become
sensible of the approach of the white man. These retired spots, where
nature was wont to supply enough for their own little wants, are well
known to the denizens of the bush. Each locality has a name, and such
places are frequented by helpless females with their children, or by the
most peaceably disposed natives with their families. There they can exist
apart from belligerent tribes, such as assemble on large rivers. Cattle
find these places and come from stations often many miles distant,
attracted by the rich verdure usually growing about them, and by thus
treading the water into mud, or by drinking it up, they literally destroy
the whole country for the aborigines, and thereby also banish from it the
kangaroos, emus, and other animals on which they live. I felt much more
disgusted than the poor natives, while they were thus exploring in vain
every hollow in search of water for our use, that our "cloven foot"
should appear everywhere. The day was extremely hot, which usually